Dawn of Hope
by Infinite.Elf.Song
Summary: The Clans are facing a leaf-bare harsher than any they have seen before. The sky is constantly thick with clouds , and cats are quickly dying from both greencough and starvation. Desperate for help, they begin turning towards legends and a certain creature, one who may not even exist. Will they be overtaken by grief and desperation? Will the clans be wiped out forever?
1. Allegiances and Info

**Here you go, I've finally decided to give in and write a full length fanfiction. It's probably going to be really cliché, so sorry about that. I'll do my best to make it different and more interesting to read.**  
 **I was planning on making it take place during Bluestar's** **time as leader and before book one, but trying to stay to the character of everyone would be a little too difficult, especially for my first time, so instead it's the typical made up characters. I wasn't going to write out the Allegiances because who reads them anyways? But, I remembered that two years ago I made up a ton of Clans out of boredom and still had a group of four Clans buried somewhere. So, I dug it up and decided that I'll use a mixture of characters from those four Clans to make this one.**

 _ **ThunderClan:**_

 _Leader:_ Thornstar - small brown tom with two white forepaws and dark brown eyes

 _Deputy:_ Quickstorm - sleek dark gray tom with deep blue eyes and a torn ear

 _Medicine cat:_ Feathercloud - very light gray she-cat with darker markings and green eyes  
 _Apprentice: Parsleypaw_

 _Warriors:_  
Reedstripe - reddish-brown tom with blue eyes and a black stripe across face  
 _Apprentice: Thistlepaw_  
Strikeheart - older light brown tabby she-cat with white markings and dark green eyes  
Dawnshadow - calico she-cat with leaf green eyes  
Roseshimmer - cream and red she-cat with sky blue eyes  
 _Apprentice: Dappledpaw_  
Beechclaw - light brown tom with a black chest and brown eyes  
 _Apprentice: Baypaw_  
Clayflower - tan and white she-cat with light brown eyes  
Showerstone - long-furred blue-gray tom with one blue eye, one brown eyes  
 _Apprentice: Nettlepaw_  
Cloudwhisker - pure white tom with a brown muzzle and amber eyes  
 _Apprentice: Mistedpaw_  
Streamflight - nearly black she-cat with silver paws, tail tip, and eyes  
Windfeather - brown and tan tabby she-cat with yellow eyes  
 _Apprentice: Flowerpaw_  
Birchfire - silver and white tom with bright amber eyes  
 _Apprentice: Pansypaw_  
Silverstorm - pale gray she-cat with darker silver tabby markings and light blue eyes, several small scars on left shoulder  
Needleslip - lighter brown she-cat with forest green eyes

 _Apprentices:_  
Thistlepaw - black tom with white speckles and blue-green eyes  
Dappledpaw - beautiful golden dappled she-cat with green eyes  
Baypaw - light brown tabby tom with pale blue eyes  
Nettlepaw - long-furred gray she-cat with yellow eyes  
Mistedpaw - medium gray tom with light silver eyes  
Flowerpaw - mottled she-cat with hazel eyes  
Pansypaw - red she-cat with ginger forepaws, tail tip, and yellow golden eyes

 _Queens:_  
Ivorystone - extremely light gray she-cat with star-bright silver eyes  
Daisyshadow - creamy she-cat with black chest and forepaws and brown eyes  
Kits: Skykit, Birdkit, Firekit  
Winterfrost - pure white she-cat with dark blue eyes, deaf in one ear  
Kits: Frozenkit, Sparrowkit, Shellkit

 _Elders:_  
Gingerpelt - orange tabby she-cat with green eyes and gray muzzle  
Desertfur - black and tan tom with aqua eyes and a scarred chest  
Cedarfang - red tom with a scared and graying muzzle with orange eyes  
Splashmist - white she-cat with uneven gray patches and green eyes, retired early due to a lamed leg

 **I purposely put in a few more characters than I need so I can kill some off (I'm know, I'm a cruel author. :P). To those who may read this story that I (hopefully) will actually try to write, please, please review! That's the only thing that will keep me writing! I need to know if you liked it or not and would love any constructive criticism! Thank you and hope you enjoy. May StarClan light your path!**


	2. Chapter One

_The forest was silent._

The land that was usually filled with noise and action was _silent._ It felt dead and uninhabited. The air was bitter cold and the ground covered in a thick blanket of icey snow. Trees loomed high above, their branches striped of any leaf growth, standing like the silhouette of skeletons. Even the evergreens were bleak as they too were completely covered in a frozen white. _The forest was silent._

Silverstorm's paws were completely numb from the cold. Her fur was fluffed up as thickly as she could possibly get it to be, but the freezing temperature of the air still nipped painfully at her skin. Foggy clouds formed in front of the faces of all three of the cats who were out on patrol as they exhaled heavily. The she-cat glanced upwards towards the sky. They had left at dawn, and it was already approaching sunhigh, not that the time of day made any difference in how bright out it was. It was constantly so overcast that it was almost impossible to tell the morning from the evening, even for a cat with sharp eyesight.

Leaf-bare had come early this year, far too early for them to make preparations for the season of bareness. There was not a single cat whose ribs were not protruding through their sides, not in any of the four Clans. For the two forest dwelling clans, there was barely a mouthful of food per cat, and most chose to let the kits and their mothers have all of it. Just getting through the woods was a strenuous task with all of the snow to force their way through. The river dwelling cats were unable to fish, due to the water being frozen over, and they had now resorted to catching what little prey they could find roaming about in their territory. But hunting on land was not something that they were accustomed to, and therefore they gathered very little. The moor cats perhaps had it worst of all. It is common knowledge that they have always been the most sleek of all the Clans to begin with and have very little fat stored away for times like these. The rabbits had plummeted in number when the first flakes had begun to fall and were very rarely spotted anymore. It was rumor that the cats had begun hunting in unknown lands beyond their borders in order to stay alive.

 _Stay alive._

That was the only goal any cat had at this point, besides the few who had lost the will to live. So many had perished already from numerous causes. The grief and constant dimness of the world had consumed the minds of many to the point that they refused to do anything, sometime even staying outside all night and dying from the cold. These were hard times for everyone. Silverstorm was lucky not to have lost anyone close to her yet, but seeing the depression of her clanmates was enough to throw her off of line. She was also lucky to be one of the scattered few who had not fallen ill with greencough. Though she had contracted whitecough about a moon and a half ago, it had been caught early and treated before it was able to get any worse. As of the moment, half of the clan was violently ravaged by the disease and none were yet showing any signs of improvement.

The patrol had been given two tasks, to do both a typical border patrol and some hunting. Nobody was truthfully concerned about anyone crossing the border at this point in time. With every clan at their weakest, a sort a peace treaty had fallen between them and everyone left all prey to their rightful owners. Even ShadowClan had lost much of their arrogance and let themselves fall in and consider themselves to be an equal. While out under the trees, the most prominent danger they faced now was being caught in a snowstorm. They would sneak up and you wouldn't know it was coming until it was there, and it would be too late to escape. Blizzards were a very serious event now and getting caught in one would mean one would more likely perish than not.

However, the hunting portion of their trip had not been going quite so smoothly. The only thing they had to show for was a single scrawny mouse that Cloudwhisker had caught. It was actually rather surprising that he had been the one to find anything and not Streamflight. His apprentice had recently been infected with greencough and was not doing well at all. He and his apprentice had formed a very close bond to each other, Mistedpaw meaning the world to him. Both his mate and only surviving kit had passed several moons prior and having the eager but calm young tom around had really helped him cope with the loss. Once he'd been informed that the fluffy gray cat was seriously ill, Cloudwhisker had drifted away from the others and always seemed to be distracted. Silverstorm hoped he might regain his grasp on reality again soon, as she rather looked up the the white tom.

Up ahead, Streamflight, who was the set leader of the patrol, motioned with her tail for them to stop. The she-cat flicked her ears up and stood stock still. Silverstorm copied and could make out the faint rustling of a small creature in the shrew-sized gap in the undergrowth where it must have been attempting to take shelter. Several moments later, a small pointed snout stuck out from underneath the cover. It paused to check for any threats, and apparently not suspecting anything, cautiously crept out into the open. The dark cat sank down into a crouch and ever so slowly crept forwards. As tormenting as the snow may be to walk on for extended periods of time, it did however do a great job at muffling the sound of any misplaced paw steps. For that, any hunter would be grateful. Streamflight slipped towards her prey with ease, being extra careful to stay out of its line of vision. When the warrior was almost on top of the furry animal, she pounced, landing square on its back and bringing forth instant death.

Silverstorm almost felt bad now, since she was the only one who had failed to find or catch anything. As an apprentice, she had always struggled with hunting for a reason that still remained unknown to her. Of course, by the time she'd received her title of a warrior, Silverstorm had gotten it down. There were many who were much better than her still, which today had obviously reminded her of again.

"Come, it is time that we return to camp. We've been out far long enough for one day," mewed Streamflight, her voice muffled by the shrew hanging from her jaws.

She couldn't have been more relived, and her weary, feelingless paws agreed.

 **Well, there's the first chapter. It's short, I know, but I think I might be keeping it that way. I'll be able to update more often and perhaps actually stick to it. Might make them a tad bit longer though. As always, please let me know what you think. And may StarClan light your path!**


End file.
